"The Kalevala is an epic poem which the Finn Elias Lonnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore in the 19th century. It is held to be the national epic of Finland and is traditionally thought of as one of the most significant works of Finnish language literature. Karelians in the Republic of Karelia and other Balto-Finnic speakers also value the work. The Kalevala is credited with some of the inspiration for the national awakening that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917.

The name can be interpreted as the "lands of Kaleva" (by the Finnish suffix -la/la for place). The epic consists of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty cantos or "chapters" (Finnish runo)." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Preface; Proem; Birth Of Wainamoinen; Wainamoinen's Sowing; Wainamoinen And Youkahainen; The Fate Of Aino; Wainamoinen's Lamentation; Wainamoinen's Hapless Journey; Wainamoinen's Rescue; Maiden Of The Rainbow; Origin Of Iron; Ilmarinen Forges The Sampo; Lemminkainen's Lament; Kyllikki's Broken Vow; Lemminikainen's Second Wooing; Death Of Lemminkainen; Lemminkainen's Restoration; Wainamoinen's Boat-building; Wainamoinen Finds The Lost-word; The Rival Suitors; Ilmarinen's Wooing; The Brewing Of Beer; Ilmarinen's Wedding-feast; The Bride's Farewell; Osmotar The Bride-adviser; The Bride's Farewell; Wainamoinen's Wedding-songs; Origin Of The Serpent; The Unwelcome Guest; The Mother's Counsel; The Isle Of Refuge; The Frost-fiend; Kullerwoinen Son Of Evil; Kullervo As A Sheperd; Kullervo And The Cheat-cake; Kullervo Finds His Tribe-folk; Kullervo's Evil Deeds; Kullerwoinen's victory And Death; Ilmarinen's Bride Of Gold; Ilmarinen's Fruitless Wooing; Wainamoinen's Sailing; Birth Of The Harp; Wainamoinen's Harp-songs; Capture Of The Sampo; The Sampo Lost In The Sea; Birth Of The Second Harp; Birth Of The Nine Diseases; Otso The Honey-eater; Louhi Steals Sun, Moon, And Fire; Capture Of The Fire-fish; Restoration Of The Sun And Moon; Mariatta--wainamoinen's Departure; Epilogue; Glossary

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About the Author:

About the Author:

"Elias Lonnrot (April 9, 1802 - March 19, 1884) was a Finnish philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry. He is best known for composing the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic compiled from national folklore.

Lonnrot was born in Sammatti, in the province of Uusimaa in Finland. He studied medicine at the Academy of Turku. To his misfortune the year he joined was the year of the Great Fire of Turku, burning down half the town - and the University. Lonnrot (and many of the rest of the University) moved to Helsinki, where he graduated in 1832. He got a job as district doctor of Kajaani (about in the middle of Finland) during a time of famine in the district. The famine had prompted the previous doctor to resign, making it possible for a very young doctor to get such a position. Several consecutive years of crop failure resulted in enormous losses of population and livestock; Lonnrot wrote letters to the State departments, asking for food, not medicines. He was the sole doctor for the about 4000 people of his district, at a time where doctors were rare and very expensive, and where people did not buy medicines from equally rare and expensive pharmacies, but rather trusted to their village healers and locally available remedies.

His true passion lay in his native Finnish language. He began writing about the early Finnish language in 1827 and began collecting folk tales from the rural people about that time." (Quote from wikipedia.org)